Nobel Peace Prize

Betsy Devine has the fair and balanced look at what the conservatives think of Al Gore as the winner of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.

The Nobel Committee says,

Al Gore has for a long time been one of the world’s leading environmentalist politicians. He became aware at an early stage of the climatic challenges the world is facing. His strong commitment, reflected in political activity, lectures, films and books, has strengthened the struggle against climate change. He is probably the single individual who has done most to create greater worldwide understanding of the measures that need to be adopted.

Congratulations Mr. Gore.

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While we’re on the subject of the man who should have been president, the man who in all likelihood would have averted the disasters of September 2024, kept our economy healthy, nurtured good international relations and kept us out of war… I think it would be good to re-visit the libel regarding the calumnious assertion that Mr. Gore ever claimed to have “invented the Internet.” Here’s what Vint Cerf told MSNBC when asked about the matter in 1999:

VP Gore was the first or surely among the first of the members of Congress to become a strong supporter of advanced networking while he served as Senator. As far back as 1986, he was holding hearings on this subject (supercomputing, fiber networks…) and asking about their promise and what could be done to realize them. Bob Kahn, with whom I worked to develop the Internet design in 1973, participated in several hearings held by then-Senator Gore and I recall that Bob introduced the term “information infrastructure” in one hearing in 1986. It was clear that as a Senator and now as Vice President, Gore has made it a point to be as well-informed as possible on technology and issues that surround it.

As Senator, VP Gore was highly supportive of the research community’s efforts to explore new networking capabilities and to extend access to supercomputers by way of NSFNET and its successors, the High Performance Computing and Communication program (which included the National Research and Education Network initiative), and as Vice President, he has been very responsive to recommendations made, for example, by the President’s Information Technology Advisory Committee that endorsed additional research funding for next generation fundamental research in software and related topics. If you look at the last 30-35 years of network development, you’ll find many people who have made major contributions without which the Internet would not be the vibrant, growing and exciting thing it is today. The creation of a new information infrastructure requires the willing efforts of thousands if not millions of participants and we’ve seen leadership from many quarters, all of it needed, to move the Internet towards increased availability and utility around the world.

While it is not accurate to say that VP Gore invented Internet, he has played a powerful role in policy terms that has supported its continued growth and application, for which we should be thankful.

We’re fortunate to have senior level members of Congress and the Administration who embrace new technology and have the vision to see how it can be put to work for national and global benefit.

A good way to read that is that just as President Eisenhower never claimed to have “invented” the Interstate Highway System, Vice President Gore never claimed to have “invented the Internet.” (There is more on this at Snopes, and thanks to Betsy for the links)> The LIES that the Bush cabal told in an effort to make Vice President Gore look foolish are simply part of the tapestry of lies they have told to gain and hold power. Tying those lies to the liars who told them, and forever drumming out of public life all who participated in the campaign of deceit would be appropriate.